The effects of graphical postorganization strategies on learning from knowledge maps

The effects of postorganization activities on the acquisition of information presented in a knowledge-map format were assessed. In the Ist experiment, the students studied biology subject matter in a knowledge-map format for 30 min, During the next 15 min, half of the participants summarized the information using the structure of the map (without any text included) as an aid (structure group); the other half continued studying the map (control group). The structure group recalled significantly more information than the control group did; that effect was particularly pronounced with recall of superordinate propositions. In Experiment 2, the recall of the structure group, who studied in the same manner as in Experiment 1, was compared with that of the map group, who summarized using the knowledge map as an aid, and the no-cue group, who summarized without any type of aid. The map and structure groups recalled significantly more superordinate propositions than the no-cue group. The 3 groups did not differ significantly with respect to subordinate propositions. The results suggest that postorganization activities that emphasize spatial encoding enhance the effectiveness of knowledge maps, especially with respect to superordinate concepts.